Use of a Femtosecond Laser in Cataract Surgery

AIMS: Cataracts continue to be the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Phacoemulsification is the gold standard in the treatment of cataracts. The aim of the study was to compare the postoperative results of the phacoemulsification technique in comparison with femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our work retrospectively evaluates the results of patients after implantation of an artificial intraocular lens for cataract from May 2017 to March 2019. The study evaluated a total of 80 implanted lenses in 47 patients operated on by two surgeons. Of the 47 patients, 28 were women. The mean age in the group at the time of surgery was 63.7 years, ranging from 34-79 years. Patients could choose FLACS (n = 45) surgery or standard phacoemulsification procedure (n = 35). RESULTS: Upon a comparison of the group regarding uncorrected distal visual acuity (UCDVA) up to 12 months after surgery, the group FAKO CATARACTS recorded 0.85 ±0.18 vs. 0.93 ±0.12 in the FEMTO CATARACTS group (p = 0.021), comparably uncorrected near visual acuity (UCNVA) was 0.77 ±0.18 vs. 0.84 ±0.17 (p = 0.034) respectively. A difference in the use of phacoemulsification energy (OZIL) was measured in patients with phacoemulsification 3.5 ±3.1 and in the use of femtosecond laser 2.2 ±3.1, (p = 0.005). In all cases, an AT LISA 839 trifocal lens (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Germany) was implanted. CONCLUSION: The femtosecond platform assists the surgeon in cataract surgery with capsulorhexis and pre-fragmentation of the lens nucleus, which can be advantageous especially for complicated cataracts. We recorded significantly higher uncorrected distance and near visual acuity in the FLACS group, and also a significantly lower value of the phacoemulsification energy used.